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hold the Bible school sessions as usual, and we are most g ratefu l th a t we have done so. Men have come from great distances and have travelled undis turbed. A few days ago some pilgrim s who had ventured to come to Nan Yoh were beaten by th e soldiers because they bowed in prayer a little too long a t one of the shrines. The temples are ju st filled w ith the N orthern Soldiers who are encamped here. At Changsha th e rum ors were very bad for a day or two before we left, bu t we felt con fident th a t God was leading us and we came on in faith. Please pray very much about th is Autumn Bible school work, I feel th a t it is one of the most im po rtan t and w ide-reaching departm ents of our work, and I cannot bear th e though t of giving it up, a t th e same tim e we can not go on in th is overcrowded way, and continue to give th e m e n . th e awful w ater to d rink th a t we are obliged to give them in our present location. The sessions of th e Autumn Bible school began w ith a p rayer m eeting on the evening of September 4th and, God willing, will continue th rough Septem ber 25th. The Bible school a t Chang sha is scheduled to open on October first. Twenty-six studen ts are enrolled and others are under consideration. The foreign teaching staff will be the same as last Spring. We have secured an excellent Chinese teacher. The day I left Changsha I sent to Mr. Horton under five covers th e reports of th e five parties for th e first seven months of 1918. W ith th is I am enclos ing a summ ary of those reports, so th a t you can see a t glance th e work done by each party, and th e sum to tal of th e ir work. Even these cold figures stir ones heart, eighty-three thousand homes visited, th a t means the Gospel earnestly and lovingly presented to over four hundred thousand individ uals, in spite of the fighting in Hunan, and all the difficulties created by the m ilitary situation. When we add to
these figures th e touching stories of men and Women eagerly receiving the message and the Christ, our h earts are moved to humble g ratitu d e and praise. A couple of evenings ago, Mr. Kang, leader of party No. 3, told me th e story of the conversion of a Mr. Wu, one of th e so-called “ G entry” of the village where he lives, a village n ear to one of the mountains inhabited by the. abor igines of China. The people of his vil lage speak the language of th e aborig ines, and n eith er speak nor understand Chinese, th a t is, the so-called “Man d arin ” which is spoken over three- fou rth s of China. But they educate a few of th e ir boys so as to carry on trad e w ith the Chinese, and Mr. Wu had been th u s educated and so holds a position of influence in his village, and over a large surrounding district. Mr. Kang and one of his colporteurs were preach ing in a large house and Mr. W^u was a ttracted by th e crowd and by the preaching as he was passing by. He stopped 'and listened for a tim e and th en came inside. He had been to the piarket, and his basket containing v ari ous purchases hung on his arm . A fter listening for about jjfifteen m inutes he began asking such intelligent questions th a t Mr. Kang was surprised and as soon as possible had a more personal talk w ith Mr. Wu. Seeing Mr. W u’s real earnestness and his intelligence, Mr. Kang gave him a copy of Selected Portions of Holy Scripture, told him where he was stopping w ith the Band, and invited him to come in for Sunday services. B righ t and early Sunday morning Mr. Wu was on hand for the early morning prayer meeting, and he brought his food w ith him so th a t he m ight stay all day. He had made such progress th a t Mr. Kang gave him a Testament, outlined a course of read ing, and invited him to come again the following Sunday. Mr. Wu came, again bringing his food so as to make the most of th e day’s opportunities. Mr. Kang questioned him carefully on the
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